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Abstract
All in all, this case study examines the cross-pollination of high achievement and representation of Black high school students in STEM, mechanisms and resources enabling school success in STEM, and school and individual factors that promote high attainment for Black men and women in STEM beyond high school. Qualitative data collection and analysis is performed in the first phase. In this phase, the researcher interviewed 16 uniquely gifted Black alumni and students of Georgia Institute of Technology—a prestigious STEM-focused postsecondary institution located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.1 The second phase is a quantitative descriptive analysis that contextualizes the K-12 journeys of the 16 participants representing Georgia Tech. The third element of this study is qualitative inquiry of a large urban school system in Metro Atlanta to investigate their mechanisms that enable school success in STEM for Black students at the secondary level. This study implements the anti-deficit achievement conceptual framework to understand how outliers succeed.